


Cursed

by xanthae (orphan_account)



Category: THE iDOLM@STER
Genre: Angst, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-07 21:09:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17968094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/xanthae
Summary: based off a prompt I saw on twitter"You are a witch working at McDonald's. There is this one colleague you secretly hate so you cast a curse that slowly destroys the thing they love the most. Months pass and nothing has changed, but you are starting to get sick."





	Cursed

**Author's Note:**

> heeho i haven't written anything in over half a year and didn't plan to tbh but this prompt destroyed me
> 
> "witch" changed to "wizard" because males
> 
> ps: not beta read and made on mobile. please feel free to point out mistakes!
> 
> ps2: i cant add the sidem fandom tag, someone help pls

"Small fries and double cheeseburger - that'll be $3, please." 

The young lady shuffles around in her purse for a while before fishing out 10 quarters. She slides it on the countertop, apologetic look in her eyes, before resuming to probing around her bag.

Jun can see it, the look of shame in her eyes - or something along the line of such. Much like himself, he can see that she's merely but another piece completing the mass of struggling young adults in society, struggling to even fish out what is, in all technicality, a tiny amount of change.

A normal person in a relatively normal society...

...is what he would've been thinking, had he not known that he was a wizard in secret.

He really didn't know of it at first. It started out small - bright sparks would shoot out of his fingers sometimes when he was excited, and more often than not he'd feel energies emitting off spices and crystals that no one else seemed to feel.

As he grew up, Jun learned that although few and far and between, he was not the only one possessing these peculiar abilities. He stumbled upon a support community online, and it was there where he learned to hone his most unusual craft, to the point that he can confidently say that he's fairly decent at it.

However in the end, wizardry doesn't pay the bills. Behind all this double life of his, he is a struggling college student that still needs funds for his education. 

He sighs to himself and looks at the girl, still fidgeting around in her bag looking for loose change. It's a bit pitiful at this point.

He beckons the girl to come closer, and she obliges. 

"The charge is on me. Do well in school." he murmurs, making sure the other customers don't hear - not that there were any at this hour.

To her visible joy, she smiles. There, she looks much better in this state. Jun grins and hands over her order and change, and she thanks him a thousand times before leaving the restaurant.

"That was awfully kind of you, Jun."

Ah yes, of course. Even in this moment, how could he forget the bother of an existence that lingered around him at all times?

It takes everything for Jun to turn around and face the taller man square in the eyes. "Natsuki, _please_ get back to work."

As per usual, the gray eyed man just stared at him back.

Natsuki Sakaki. Jun disliked him deeply. He'd started working at the store around the same time as Jun did, but if he could have a dollar every minute he slacked around Jun could've been made for life. 

The amount of times he'd caught Natsuki sleeping in a corner or playing games on his phone is ridiculous at this point. He'd jolt him awake, or take away his phone, but the man always finds a way to procrastinate on his duties, mostly consisting of quietly lurking around the venue.

Not only that, but Natsuki attracts attention - and _good lord god_ did it set him off every time a gaggle of girls burst into the employee room to insist for a picture with the "cutie" from McDonald's.

He really gets on his nerves, but at the very least Natsuki seems to be very annoyed - no, confused - at the latter situation as well.

"Natsuki, please."

"Jun is really so kind." he says, cracking a big smile. Was he making fun of him?

"Kind enough to remind you every single time you goof off that you have a job to do."

Again, the man only stares at him back as a reply. He knows he's quiet to some extent, but he could be talking like a decent person in one moment and completely devoid of sound in another. 

Simply put, Natsuki is lazy and unassertive, two qualities Jun truly does not appreciate in a person. 

He checks his watch - 8:45 PM. His shift is almost over, and he'd have to go soon. He takes out a towel from under the cashier and starts wiping the countertop.

"Look Natsuki, I'm almost done here. If you actually have anything to say please do so."

Natsuki raises his eyebrows, and looks around. "You usually get off later."

"I'm off early today. I have matters to attend to."

_Matters being yet another wizardry session online, at 9:00 sharp._

"Matters?"

"None of your business."

"Does Jun have a girlfriend to attend to?"

He wipes the countertop a little more briskly. "I don't have time for such irrelevant relationships."

"Night classes?"

"I have enough during the day."

"Don't tell me - a job in the adult district?"

He clenches the towel. " _God_ , how low do you think of me?"

"It's okay, I won't tell. Want me to take over for you?"

" _Like hell you can!_ "

Jun slams the towel down on the counter and faces Natsuki. He is seething at this point, he wants nothing more than to just knock Natsuki out and rearrange every damned braincell in his body into a normal, functioning human.

And for the first time, this absurd human is looking at him with an incredulous look in his eyes.

"Jun?" he asks tentatively, cocking his head to the side.

Jun can hear himself breathing heavily. He hates how he takes this all so lightly, how he can just stand by and watch Jun hard carry all the work without him even blinking an eye at how much he puts on the line for himself. 

It's really a wonder how he hasn't ratted him out to the manager yet. 

And, _oh_ \- he hadn't realized tears of anger had been spilling out of his eyes. He might as well go the extra mile this time.

"I'm so tired of you. I work my ass off every day trying to make ends meet with my college tuition and you're just here living an easy life without even thinking twice about the consequences of your work - more like the lack of it," he spat bitterly.

"Jun-?"

"The amount of overtimes I took over in your place, they affect me a lot you know? I wish, I wish you could just - _just_ , think of what I feel when I clean up after your mess -"

Jun knows what he's saying is embarassing and will probably be used against him some other day, but at this point he can't bring himself to care.

Neither does Natsuki apparently, who still has that incredulous look on his face.

"I hate you. I hate you so much."

The words fall from his lips before he realized it, and he expects Natsuki to either go on the defensive of have a guilty look about him. He'd be fine with both, it would show that he's actually conscious of what he's doing and not just be some weird, apathetic man.

To his utter surprise however, he finds that gray eyes are looking back at him with an emotion Jun can only describe as... warm? soft?

What the hell?

"Ah - so Jun really thinks about me like that. You care for me a lot after all." he says, smiling once more into a theoretically beautiful smile, but that wasn't the case for Jun.

Does he think his feelings are a joke? How dare he be this calm in front of Jun at his worst? Making fun of him like this - he's feels the last bits of his sanity melt away.

Behind the tears blurring his vision, he takes one last step towards Natsuki and looks him straight in the eyes.

He hates to admit it, but in this proximity, he can see that his gray eyes were beautiful indeed. May they and their owner be damned to hell, however.

"Let's see how much you like it when the thing you love most slowly withers away."

\---

It's been a few months since then. They both still work at the same McDonald's store - nothing has changed, except for Natsuki finally starting to take his job seriously, and the fact that he seemed to be glancing more often at Jun. 

That should have been the end line. Jun working as normal, Natsuki finally doing something. Both of them going about their work as normal, maybe formally talking a few times, but never crossing the line beyond that.

And then suddenly he's laying in his bed, fevers racking his body and limbs starting to give out. He remembers all these glances looking terribly sad and concerned. He remembers Natsuki's voice being ever so soft, so gentle, trembling every time Jun spoke to him, all of which were harsh words.

That lasted until a month ago, when he had to stop college and work due to the symptoms appearing.

Jun fears - _knows_ \- that he can no longer remember any memory that came before what he knows is the black grip of death clawing its way up inside his body. 

He dreams that night of a Natsuki hovering over his deathbed, saying something about how he should've told him and how he... loves him? 

That's ridiculous, he's sure the curse must have backfired. He's an idiot for thinking he was good enough for it, after all.

Yet even as he knows this, he can feel himself act against his better judgement. It was more of an automatic response than anything else - he sheds tears, and utters one phrase pride prevented him from saying all these years.

" _I'm sorry, Natsuki._ "


End file.
